The world of antique pipes is a fascinating place full of surprising materials, shapes, styles, sizes and configurations and, depending on where the pipes were produced, can be encountered in a broad range of embellishments and accents in precious and semi-precious stones, silver and gold filigree, amber, ivory, horn, bone, and tortoiseshell.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Ivory pipe Dieppe, France

"In the Eighteenth Century, Dieppe sculptors already rivaled, in ivory, the minutest details of the best lace makers. One distinct pipe which evolved was a majestic pipe made entirely of ivory with intricate perforations, rococco and serpentine scrolls intertwined with grape and leaf foliates surrounding the bust of some mythological female in ornate headress and lace collar; at the base the head of a griffon or other such allegorical winged beast."